Following that dark opening-night screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, it’s time to contemplate yet again why America’s troubled young men kill so many more people than their counterparts in the rest of the world’s more affluent nations.

Most wealthy countries don’t care much for handguns. They have better things to do. And in Europe, fading tribal memories dating back to the lawless Middle Ages have, at last, largely receded.

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Americans are different. Our most hazardous epoch is more recent. Popular Western movies and TV dramas refresh robust memories of the great frontier. While that heritage is fading, it still grips many of us. After all, our voluntary and involuntary immigrant ancestors were bold and strong. They survived death-defying trans-oceanic trips, some of them as cargo.

Perhaps our frontier complex can explain why so many Americans believe that to properly protect ourselves today, we need guns.

I don’t get it. Reality has changed. If there’s a Native-American menace today, it’s casinos. Duels are out. Slavery ended 150 years ago.

The requirement for a background check reflects the desire by most governments to tamp down today’s flood of guns and epidemic of shootings. The National Rifle Association (NRA), which is generously financed by the gun industry, strenuously opposes this civilized public safety policy. That dark duo has many supporters.

Yet the dark duo still argues that the solution to too many gun deaths is to make sure that even more Americans obtain these deadly weapons. It has persuaded the U.S. House of Representatives to force states with restrictive handgun laws to honor concealed-weapons permits from Wild West states when their residents come to visit. Sort of like drivers licenses.

One state that won’t care is Florida. In 2010, the Sunshine State prohibited local governments from imposing any of their own restrictions at all on gun-toting, invalidating a host of existing municipal ordinances.

As usual, ironies abound, especially since Tampa has banned water pistols from the streets outside the upcoming Republican National Convention. Thus you will be able to pack real heat out there, but not your super soaker.

Fortunately, the Secret Service is in charge inside the venue. Especially after the Aurora massacre, the GOP faithful will be lucky to get in armed with nail clippers. They’ll have to conduct their mayhem out front.

OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut. otherwords.org